Cassandra in Reverse Summary, Characters and Themes
Cassanda in Reverse, Holly Smale’s debut adult novel, is a quirky and heartfelt exploration of life, love, and second chances through the lens of time travel. The story follows Cassandra Penelope Dankworth, an eccentric young woman navigating the chaos of being dumped, fired, and estranged from her sister, all in a single day.
With the ability to rewind time, she seeks to “fix” her life, but soon realizes that not everything can be controlled. The novel explores themes of self-discovery, family reconciliation, and personal growth, blending humor and emotion in a refreshing and engaging way.
Summary
Cassandra Penelope Dankworth’s life spirals out of control when her boyfriend, Will, dumps her the same day she’s fired from her PR job. As she reels from the heartbreak, she’s hit by a wave of misfortunes, from an unappetizing café menu to a tense situation with her roommates, Sal and Derek.
Sal is cold toward her, believing Derek’s side of a past incident where he made advances toward Cassandra. Feeling overwhelmed, Cassandra blacks out in front of a bar, only to wake up at home with the day seemingly restarting.
The next day feels eerily familiar, and to her shock, Will arrives to pick her up for the same date they had the night before.
When the day repeats itself again, Cassandra suspects she’s caught in a time loop. Realizing that she can make small changes, she begins experimenting with her ability to rewind time.
Her first significant discovery comes when she drops a plant at work instead of returning it to a colleague, altering the course of the day slightly. From this, she concludes that she can make adjustments to her life.
With this newfound power, Cassandra is determined to fix the key aspects of her life: her relationship with Will, her job, and her living situation. She tries to rewind to the point in her life when everything went wrong—her parents’ death in a car accident and the subsequent fallout with her sister, Artemis—but finds herself only able to go back to the day she met Will, four months ago.
Still, she uses the time loop to “perfect” her relationship with him and smooth over her work troubles by constantly redoing important meetings, including one with a client, SharkSkin, a men’s skincare company.
Although she initially believes time travel will help her get everything she wants, Cassandra soon realizes that some things are beyond her control. Even though she improves her relationship with Will by repeating dates, it always ends in the same way: he breaks up with her.
Along the way, she reconnects with Sophie, a colleague she previously dismissed, and slowly starts forming meaningful connections outside of her manipulations.
As Cassandra keeps avoiding her estranged sister Artemis, she finds out, through a series of rewinds, that Artemis and Will have developed a relationship. Eventually, after seeing them together on a date, Cassandra reconciles with Artemis.
They acknowledge the deep rift caused by their parents’ death and the blame placed on Cassandra. Artemis reveals that their mother was diagnosed with autism and suggests that Cassandra may also be on the spectrum, giving her clarity and a better understanding of herself.
In the end, Cassandra realizes she no longer needs to manipulate time to control outcomes.
She lets go of her job, finds solace in her relationships with her sister and friends, and decides to pursue a Classics degree at Cambridge. Although tempted to use time travel once more, she embraces the messiness of life and chooses to move forward.
Characters
Cassandra Penelope Dankworth
Cassandra, or Cassie, is the protagonist of the novel and the primary point of view through which the story unfolds. Her character is complex, marked by emotional turbulence and a tendency toward obsessive behavior, which initially leads her life to spiral out of control.
Cassie struggles with both social interactions and her sense of identity, feeling disconnected from those around her. Her fixation on maintaining control and perfection is symbolized by her obsession with time travel, a metaphor for her desire to undo mistakes and constantly re-edit her life in pursuit of an unattainable ideal.
The reveal of her mother’s autism diagnosis and the suggestion that Cassie shares the same condition is a turning point for her self-understanding. This discovery helps her begin to reconcile her struggles with social cues, rigid thinking, and compartmentalization.
She seeks a kind of validation in her relationships, particularly with Will, believing that controlling time could save her romantic, social, and professional life. Over time, however, Cassie comes to realize that the relationships she’s striving to fix—her relationship with Will, her job, and her living situation—are not as essential to her happiness as her relationship with herself and her family, particularly her estranged sister, Artemis.
Her decision to quit her job and study Classics at Cambridge is a significant step toward reclaiming agency over her own life and understanding her true desires. The ability to time travel ultimately teaches Cassie that, rather than controlling others, she must trust herself and allow life to unfold without obsessive interference.
Artemis Dankworth (Diana)
Artemis, Cassie’s older sister, is an enigmatic figure throughout much of the novel, appearing in snippets before her full significance is revealed. Her strained relationship with Cassie stems from a misunderstanding during their parents’ funeral, in which a grief-stricken Artemis lashed out at Cassie, blaming her for their parents’ car accident.
This traumatic event severs their bond for a decade, creating a rift that both sisters deeply regret but neither knows how to heal. Artemis’s alternate identity as “Diana” when meeting Will suggests her desire to create distance from her past, just as Cassie struggles with facing their shared history.
However, despite her anger and her decision to avoid Cassie for so many years, Artemis is persistent in trying to reconnect with her sister, especially when she finds the autism diagnosis file. Artemis is more self-assured than Cassie, and her ability to form a relationship with Will reflects her pragmatic nature and emotional maturity.
Despite this, Artemis is compassionate, as seen in her reconciliation with Cassie and her willingness to accept her sister’s time-traveling antics. By the end, she provides Cassie with crucial insight into her diagnosis, acting as a catalyst for Cassie’s acceptance of herself.
Will
Will is Cassie’s ex-boyfriend, whose breakup at the beginning of the novel sets off the chain of events that leads Cassie to discover her time-traveling ability. Though Will is initially painted as the ideal partner that Cassie believes she can win back through manipulation of time, his character gradually reveals itself to be much more shallow and unsuitable for Cassie’s growth.
His brief romance with Artemis underscores his emotional detachment and inability to connect deeply with Cassie, as it becomes clear that their relationship was never as profound as she believed. Will is largely an instrument through which Cassie explores her need for validation, and his ultimate rejection of her helps Cassie realize that her pursuit of him was driven more by her insecurities than by any genuine connection.
His romantic involvement with Artemis serves as a narrative device for Cassie’s self-realization. When Cassie finally accepts that Will and Artemis are better suited for each other, she frees herself from the illusion that her relationship with him could ever have brought her happiness.
Salini (Sal)
Sal is Cassie’s roommate and represents the tension that exists between Cassie and her social world. While Sal starts off as cold and distant due to a misunderstanding involving her boyfriend Derek, she ultimately becomes a supportive figure in Cassie’s life.
Sal is protective of her relationship with Derek, and her initial loyalty to him blinds her to his advances on Cassie. Sal’s character development mirrors the novel’s themes of communication and trust, as she moves from distrust to empathy once the truth about Derek’s behavior is revealed.
Her eventual bond with Cassie is a marker of Cassie’s own growth in learning to trust herself and stand up for what is right, as opposed to using time travel to manipulate situations. Sal’s actions in throwing Derek out of their apartment signify her own growth and the deepening connection between her and Cassie.
She also represents one of the few stable relationships Cassie can form once Cassie abandons her obsessive need to control outcomes.
Derek
Derek serves as an antagonist in Cassie’s social life. His repeated advances on Cassie, which he initially denies, fuel much of the tension between Cassie and her roommates.
His dishonesty and manipulative behavior highlight Cassie’s vulnerability and self-doubt, making her question her own perception of events. While Derek is not a deeply explored character, his actions are crucial in showing Cassie’s journey toward self-empowerment.
By the end of the novel, Derek’s expulsion from the apartment signifies Cassie’s increased confidence in herself and her ability to foster meaningful relationships with others, such as with Sal.
Sophie
Sophie begins as a background character in the office but becomes a symbol of genuine human connection in Cassie’s life. Initially, Cassie sees Sophie as an annoying coworker; however, through repeated attempts to fix her work situation via time travel, Cassie begins to appreciate Sophie’s kindness and work ethic.
Sophie’s offer to handle difficult tasks like making phone calls for Cassie reflects her generosity and marks a shift in their relationship from professional acquaintance to potential friendship. Her role in the novel emphasizes the theme of accepting help and forming authentic bonds with others.
Sophie’s inclusion in the story also helps illustrate Cassie’s journey from self-isolation to understanding that true relationships are built on trust, respect, and reciprocity, not on control or manipulation.
Cameron (Ronald)
Cameron, whom Cassie mistakenly refers to as “Ronald” for much of the novel, serves as a late romantic interest for Cassie. He is the antithesis of Will, representing someone with whom Cassie has much more in common, including a shared sense of humor and understanding of each other’s quirks.
Cameron’s character is relatively understated, but his connection with Cassie is portrayed as more genuine and less fraught with the emotional tension and miscommunication that characterized her relationship with Will. Cameron’s presence at the SharkSkin gala, coupled with Cassie’s decision to quit her job, symbolizes Cassie’s acceptance of who she truly is and her willingness to pursue meaningful connections rather than idealized fantasies.
Themes
The Interplay of Time, Memory, and Personal Identity in the Reconstruction of Self
Holly Smale’s Cassandra in Reverse explores the philosophical implications of time travel not just as a plot device but as a mechanism to interrogate the complex relationship between memory, time, and selfhood. The novel delves into how Cassie’s perception of time and her ability to revisit key moments in her life provide a unique lens through which she grapples with her identity.
The novel questions whether the self is something fixed or fluid, mutable with each iteration of experience. Cassie’s repeated attempts to perfect certain events, conversations, and decisions gradually shift her understanding of who she is.
Time is not a linear construct but something pliable and subject to subjective perception. The narrative underscores how individuals can reshape their identities through a reexamination of past choices.
Cassie’s journey towards self-acceptance is tied not to altering external circumstances but to embracing the inevitability of change. Her limitations as a human being, incapable of mastering time’s elusive flow, become central to her growth.
The Neurodivergent Experience and Its Relationship with Social Misunderstandings and Alienation
A central theme of the novel is Cassie’s neurodivergence, gradually revealed as the narrative unfolds. The discovery of her mother’s autism diagnosis helps Cassie understand her own place on the spectrum.
Smale explores how neurodivergence—such as difficulty in processing social cues, emotional regulation, and rigid thinking—permeates Cassie’s relationships, career, and self-perception. Her alienation from coworkers, her miscommunications with Sal and Derek, and her strained relationship with Artemis highlight these challenges.
The novel paints a nuanced portrait of how social misunderstandings exacerbate feelings of isolation for individuals who do not conform to neurotypical patterns of thinking. Cassie’s literal interpretation of the world and difficulty understanding the nuances of social interactions complicate her attempts to “fix” her life through time travel.
Ultimately, the novel argues for understanding and accepting neurodivergent experiences as valid. Cassie’s journey highlights the importance of recognizing these differences rather than viewing them as obstacles to be overcome.
The Ethics of Temporal Intervention and the Philosophical Dilemma of Determinism vs. Free Will
Cassandra in Reverse raises profound ethical questions about temporal intervention and the consequences of altering personal histories. The novel delves into the tension between determinism and free will.
Cassie’s repeated attempts to change the outcomes of events—especially her relationships—illustrate how some things may be inevitable. The novel suggests that while Cassie has the agency to make different choices, those choices do not always lead to different outcomes.
This ethical dilemma is further complicated by how Cassie’s interventions begin to distort her relationships and alter the course of others’ lives. The narrative questions whether it is ethical to manipulate time for personal benefit.
Smale presents time travel as a morally fraught power rather than a neat solution to personal crises. Cassie must confront the complexities of human choice, consequence, and interconnectedness.
Familial Estrangement, Grief, and the Search for Closure Across Temporal and Emotional Boundaries
The novel deeply explores the lingering impact of grief and familial estrangement. Cassie’s strained relationship with Artemis, rooted in their parents’ death, is a key emotional thread.
Cassie’s desire to “fix” her life through time travel stems from a need for closure and reconciliation. Time travel becomes a metaphor for revisiting unresolved emotional pasts.
Cassie’s repeated avoidance of Artemis underscores her inability to confront grief directly. The novel suggests that closure cannot be achieved through temporal manipulation but through emotional honesty and engagement with painful memories.
Ultimately, Cassie realizes that she cannot erase or “fix” the past. Reconciliation comes from confronting it with her sister, demonstrating that grief is something to be accepted, not avoided.
The Fragmentation of Reality and Subjective Perception Through Temporal Disruption
Cassandra in Reverse explores the theme of reality fragmentation, as Cassie’s manipulation of time blurs the boundaries between what is “real” and what is a revision of past events. The narrative structure mirrors her disjointed perception of time.
As Cassie rewinds and relives moments, the novel’s fragmented structure reflects her fractured sense of reality. This disorientation probes deeper into the psychological effects of temporal disruption.
Cassie’s sense of self and relationships become increasingly fragile with each attempt to control time. The novel raises philosophical questions about whether reality is stable or shaped entirely by individual perception.
Smale suggests that subjective perception can distort not just memory but also present circumstances. This fragmentation of reality reflects a larger existential question about the nature of reality itself.
The Intersection of Romantic Idealization and Emotional Stagnation in the Face of Self-Discovery
The novel poignantly examines the intersection between romantic idealization and emotional stagnation. Cassie’s fixation on preserving her relationship with Will reveals how romantic idealization can hinder emotional growth.
Her attempts to perfect interactions with Will reflect a broader issue of being trapped in idealized versions of romance. This fixation prevents genuine emotional connection and growth.
Time travel allows Cassie to avoid mistakes on her dates, but these revisions strip the relationship of authenticity. Smale critiques the notion of “fixing” relationships through external means.
Cassie’s eventual realization that her fixation on Will was driven by fear of loneliness, rather than true love, shifts her focus. The narrative emphasizes self-discovery and internal validation over external romantic ideals.